Cell

A Cell (also known as a Squad) is a group of up to four players working together to finish the objectives of a mission. Trial missions can have two cells working in tandem, totaling up to eight people.

Once other players have joined the cell, a special lobby will be created to accommodate this. It is much like the regular mission menus except in the chat window, a "Squad" appears allowing you to talk to the other players in the cell. Any aura mod equipped by a player will benefit everyone in the current cell.

Cell members will vote for missions to complete next. Once a mission is selected by a member of the cell, boxes will appear at the top of the screen, filled with either nothing, which is a transparent whitish box, a box filled with green with a white ✓, representing a positive vote or a red box filled with a white ✗, representing a negative vote. Each vote box above a cell member's avatar reflects that player's vote. While formed in a cell, a player can back out to the solar system view by using the ESC key without leaving the cell, but will be unable to change the mission choice without clearing votes first. Once the vote is started, other players have 60 seconds to vote and use menus until the mission starts. If all votes are in, then the timer immediately counts down from 5 seconds. The mission played will be the mission with the most votes. If there are an even number of votes, then the host's vote will decide the mission.

Cells can invite people to join while out of game. They can also join other players by going to the contacts list, right clicking a player, and selecting "Join Session." If there is a player slot/(s) available, then the player will join the game, even if a mission is in progress. Cells can also invite other players while waiting for votes or for the countdown by clicking the Add button (a white + in a box), if there are slots available in the cell. This is also possible from the ESC menu after starting a mission.

Although a player cannot start a mission that is locked, they can play a locked mission while in a cell. If anyone in a cell can start a mission vote, then all players can vote for the same mission, regardless of the mission being locked to the other players. If the player with a locked node has the planet that the node is on, the node will be unlocked. However, if a player does not have the planet the node is on, the planet and node will NOT be unlocked. "Taxi" is the community term for taking players to a place they have not unlocked. If the mission requires all cell members to have a specific item equipped (e. g. an Archwing), that mission will be locked as long as there are members in the cell that don't fulfill those conditions.

Cells with fewer than four members who do not want random players joining the game should change the game mode to "Friends Only" or "Invite Only".

Should a player wish to play alone and be able to pause a session, "Solo" mode is an option. Selecting the "Solo" game mode will also make your game pause-able as if it were a single player game. This does not work on the Plains of Eidolon however.